Microsoft takes its time over Xbox 360 Skype integration

It has been seven-and-a-half months since Microsoft acquired Skype in a $8.5 billion buyout last year, yet the software giant has yet to roll out the video calling platform across its key services, including Xbox 360. And it is believed that we may have to wait longer still for the games console version, with a suggestion that it won't be available until 2013.

In an interview in the New York Times, British Skype president Tony Bates said he was proud that, since the company's acquisition, the brand had maintained an independence from Microsoft. "We’ve kept our identity and our autonomy," he said.

However, this degree of separation may be to the detriment of the speed at which the service can be offered on Microsoft products, or even the quality.

While the Xbox 360 still has no Skype client, the new portable console from one of Microsoft's biggest rivals in that sector, the PS Vita, does. And that was released at the end of April - after the acquisition.

Additionally, while there is a version of the software available for the Windows Phone OS, it has been slammed by many users and critics alike.

On a more positive note, Skype will be part of Windows 8 when it launches, and Microsoft has recently posted a job advert a new "member of the Skype Xbox Engineering Team in London", but it now seems that the fruits of that person's labour may not be seen for a while.